Did you know that there are approximately 4.66 billion active internet users worldwide? Can you imagine all the different ways in which we all use the internet? Obasanjo’s Internet is our interview series where we speak to some of our Internet favorites on how they relate to the Internet and what it means to them and their work. This week, communications associate and content creator, Dodo Babs talks to us about how she uses Obasanjo’s Internet.
What’s the first thing you do when you wake up?
The first thing I do when I wake up is think about all the things I have to do for that day, while my eyes are still closed. And then I go through my phone and check notifications. Then I call my mum.
How do you use the internet for work or pleasure?
A healthy balance of both because I work in investment so I use the internet for a lot of research, seeing what’s going on in the stock market. At the same time, I also do freelance brand promotion and low-key influencing and I get reached out to a lot on the internet because of my social media pages, so I’ll say that’s work as well. For pleasure: entertainment, and then connecting with friends and people.
What moment or episode in your life would you say captured the essence of the internet?
I’ll say maybe when I was in school or during COVID, I used the internet a lot to contact my family, stay updated with what’s happening in the world, and stay connected. I think those are the memorable moments where I benefited from the essence of what the internet gives us.
Your favorite social media platform and why?
It’s between TikTok and Twitter. I’ll say Twitter because of the banter and the news. That’s literally where I get my news from and where I get everything. Twitter is also hilarious. Then I’ll say TikTok because it keeps me entertained, and Instagram because it allows me to consume the kind of content I’ve properly curated for myself. I find that Instagram is the app that mimics what you like and feeds it back to you. So those are my top three Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram.
What was the last meme you saved?
There’s a meme I’ve had on my phone since 2021 that I find that I use quite frequently, but I’m not a meme saver. I don’t like having all of that on my phone because I feel like I can just find it if I search for it so I rather not have it on my phone. And then gifs also help so I don’t need to save memes.
Do you remember the first time something you posted went viral? What was it? How did it make you feel?
Ah Gosh. I’ve had multiple viral movements but I would say my weight loss before and after photos. They went viral very quickly. I expected it to do numbers, but I didn’t expect it to do a hundred thousand-something likes so I was a little overwhelmed. It was nice to hear what people had to say about it and the fact that people felt motivated. It also just exposed my page to a completely different audience that I wasn’t familiar with. People were doubting, people had a lot to say.
I was proud cause it reached people that it could help. But at the same time, I hate going viral because I can’t control who sees my content and who adds their input. I don’t like my stuff to leave my circle. So yeah, mixed feelings, I’d say.
Recently, there was a woman who was trying to make sense of the child rapist performing in the Olympics and saying he had paid his dues and everything. I quoted it and said “Women like this are so dangerous to society” and I think it had like 15,000 likes. So that’s the last thing that I can say did numbers.
What’s the most outrage you have ever generated over something you posted? How did you react to it?
Ah. This has happened multiple times. So there was a time when we used to do these “as a man type sentences” and I used to say really funny things “like why are you wearing an Apple Watch as a man?” oh and I’m always mocking Nigerian men for liking beans. I feel like Nigerian men have been cursed with the love of beans. I don’t understand why they love beans so much. I think it’s crazy.
I’ve said a broke man can never love me because he doesn’t love himself. There are too many. I’m so sorry. I’m a terror so I be causing outrage occasionally.
If I see that the engagement is too much, I mute it because I don’t like seeing notifications from the same tweet. I typically mute notifications once it reaches 50 retweets or something.
What rules do you live by on the internet?
No oversharing! Never. I think we are deep in an oversharing pandemic. I don’t want to be relatable online. I don’t talk about any negatives. I think social media, the audience that you’re speaking to, is just going to take whatever you’re going through as entertainment. There is no reason why you need to talk about your lows. You don’t need to be relatable. I make sure what I put out is what I’m comfortable with people knowing. I never share anything that I feel will be used against me or anything like that. So yeah, on all my social media platforms I create my timeline in a way that you know, it’s only people who I want to see are there. The ratio from my following to followers is very intentional just to make sure I’m not interacting or exposing my mind to content that I’m not ok with. So yeah, those are rules that I live by. Number one, no oversharing. Number two, I don’t share any lows. My life is perfect!
Would you say you have an online persona?
Not really. I would say I am the same online and in person. I’m intentionally inaccessible. I can have 10,000 followers and only follow 50 people. I don’t like to be accessible and I think that’s how I am in person as well, but as regards having an online persona, I don’t think so. I feel like if you want to know what’s on my mind, check my Twitter. You know how people say “Don’t believe my tweets because everything is a lie.” On my own Twitter, everything is true but I don’t post anything that is not public information, or I’m not comfortable with people knowing. So no, I don’t think I have an online persona. I’m just careful, I guess.
What is your guiltiest online pleasure?
Hmmm. Maybe the kind of content I consume. I love ingrown toe removals, I love ingrown hair removals, hoofs scrapping – Nate the hoof guy, blackheads. Not the soft mushy one, yuck. The hard ones. So maybe the kind of content that I consume. I’m an ingrown toenail removal girl. Very satisfying.
What’s your favorite emoji and why?
It’s the laughing emoji cause I’m always laughing. Everything is so funny. Human beings are so funny and strange. Also, the bullseye because sometimes people are on point. I like the bubbles as well, I think they are cute.
Are you particular about your feed?
Oh yeah, for sure. I’m very specific. I don’t follow anybody I don’t know or I don’t interact with or I’m uncomfortable seeing what they post. I don’t do any fan love. I am not following anybody I don’t want to. Except I like the kind of content that you put out and I see it as inspiration, then maybe I would but yeah, I’m very particular about the kind of content I consume, especially on social media. I don’t want anybody that is posting poverty-stricken yarns. I don’t like all those kinds of “oh sapa …” abeg mehn. Life is hard enough. I don’t need to be seeing that online.
I’m not too fond of explicit stuff. I don’t like people that are always horny or desperados – people who are always begging, people who are always using style to beg. So yeah, I’m very particular about what I put on my feed or what I see.
YouTube or TikTok? Which do you prefer and why?
TikTok for short-form content. I don’t watch YouTube shorts EVER but YouTube for long-form content. Yeah, I like YouTube because there are particular videos I like to watch: interviews of the rappers I listen to. TikTok for short-form content, entertainment, and even research. But if I want to watch a vlog or an interview, YouTube.
Which Nigerian creator do you think the world needs to see and hear more of?
Taves. Taves is my boy, for personal bias reasons. But he is already on that path. Layi Wasabi has already blown. I’m thinking of someone that hasn’t already blown. All the creators I know are doing quite well. I don’t think I follow enough small-scale creators. So the world is already seeing all of them.
Who is the coolest person you follow and the coolest person who follows you?
They are all pretty cool. The coolest person who follows me? Do you know what is so crazy? Every day I check something, there is a prominent person in the social scene that I find who follows me but I don’t follow back. It is always so surprising to me.
My mum is the coolest person that follows me. She is pretty cool. She’s always commenting, always famzing all my posts. Yeah, she’s alright. Let me give her her flowers.
What is your favorite Nigerian podcast?
Ah I am not a podcast girl at all. Mayowa has been doing his best to get me into podcasts but I am struggling, I can’t lie. I am not a podcast girl. I have never listened to I Said What I Said. I am not a podcast girl at all.
I’ve been saying I’ll start mine. I designed the logo and everything in 2021 but it hasn’t move forward.
Have you ever hooked up with someone you met online? Did you regret it?
Yes. Yes.
5 people you’d love to see answer these questions
Vanessa of Nyosi, Atilola Olajide, Wizkid, Bolu Ayeye and Bobrisky.
Read previous Obasanjo’s Internet entries here.
